Richard Hughes in race against time to avoid awful WOAT label

Is he the WOAT? Richard Hughes is in a race against time to avoid an awful Liverpool label.

Richard Hughes has been at Liverpool for two and a half years now. Technically, it’s only been two years but given he was involved in the hiring of Arne Slot, it’s safe to say that Hughes has been doing some sort of work at Anfield since early 2024.

And now he’s set to leave. It was reported by the Athletic on Thursday that Hughes is expected to join Al-Hilal after this summer.

That’s something we’ve seen rumoured for some time now, particularly out of Saudi Arabia. Hughes has been their pick to lead a project under new ownership.

His long-time assistant, Steve Francis, is already working there. Now it’s just a matter of time before Hughes joins him, bringing an end to this questionable spell in charge of Liverpool.

It’s a difficult one to judge. Yes, the Reds won the Premier League in 2025 but exactly who deserves the majority of the credit for that is unclear - it certainly wasn’t Hughes’s squad but rather one built by Jürgen Klopp and Jörg Schmadtke.

Hughes did the bulk of his work following that title win but as of right now, it’s been an unmitigated disaster, moving the squad significantly backwards at enormous cost. Liverpool are worse, with a less defined future, and spent hundred of millions to do so.

Though, it’s maybe underselling it. Liverpool didn’t just spend money but sold players who almost certainly could have had a long-term role here.

Caoimhin Kelleher would be in line for the no.1 shirt. Jarell Quansah is at the World Cup with England and looks likely to become a truly elite centre-back. Tyler Morton left for peanuts and quickly proved to be one of the top midfielders in Ligue 1.

Luis Diaz was sold to Bayern Munich and is now one of the greatest wingers in the world. Contract talks with Trent Alexander-Arnold failed and he disappeared to Real Madrid.

That’s five players who could be playing key roles for Liverpool and all went for below market value. Then we could talk about signing Mohamed Salah to a two-year £400k-per-week contract which collapsed halfway through.

Things need to go very, very well this summer, then. They certainly haven’t started that way, with a public pursuit of Yan Diomande ending in embarrassment.

This squad needs fixing, though, and if Hughes can’t do that, he will be remembered as the worst sporting director seen at the club. One who took a squad in a truly incredible position and made it much worse at a massive cost.

He’s got about two months to change that perception. Clock’s ticking.